Dance music flavors come and go, but you've got to hand it to the dirty Dutch. Heading into the last quarter of 2011, clubs, radio, and your average frozen yogurt joint are all throbbing to the new sounds of Dutch house. The subgenre is instantly recognizable for its fast bpm and penchant for relentlessly crescendoing, minor-key, slightly squeaky synth lines -- oh, and its absolute ubiquity. In the wake of David Guetta's blasting of the boundaries between dance and urban music, Dutch house is slowly beginning to touch nearly every upbeat song on Top 40 radio.
For much of this, credit Surinam-born, Netherlands-transplanted DJ Chuckie, one of the reigning kings of the scene alongside buddies such as Afrojack. He got his start DJing around the Hague as a teenager in the early '90s, and within the past several years, he has distinguished himself on an international level as a producer as well.
If you don't know original stormers like "Let the Bass Kick" by name, you'll recognize them for their maddeningly earwig-ish instrumental melodies. At the same time, Chuckie has brought the Midas remix touch to a slew of white-hot names -- from Pendulum to Pitbull to Enrique Iglesias to Lil Jon -- while expanding into producing original tracks for others such as Chris Brown. Still, his roots are in the DJ booth, and that's where he'll be this Wednesday at LIV. With a super DJ and a super club, it's a match made in bottle-service heaven.
Wed., Sept. 7, 11 p.m., 2011